In a gas range having a self-cleaning oven, a surface immediately beneath a burner, which is beneath the bottom wall of the oven, typically reaches a temperature of 1150.degree. F. to 1200.degree. F. during self cleaning of the oven by the burner being operated for predetermined periods of time. The gas range may have a storage compartment beneath the oven. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has a requirement that the top surface of the storage compartment is not to exceed a temperature of 300.degree. F. with an ambient temperature of 72.degree. F. This is to prevent the storage compartment from becoming so hot as to present a fire hazard to stored items.
Each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,480,000 to Torrey et al, 3,915,149 to Kemp, and 4,598,691 to Herrelko et al relates to a gas range having a self-cleaning oven. The aforesaid Herrelko et al patent has a burner, which is used to self clean the oven, disposed with a burner box beneath the bottom wall of the oven. A retainer, which forms the top of a storage compartment beneath the burner box, is beneath the bottom wall of the burner box in spaced relation thereto and has a bottom heat shield supported beneath it in spaced relation thereto. The air flows by convection through passages, which are formed between the heat shield and the retainer and between the retainer and the bottom wall of the burner box, and into the burner box, which has insulation around it. While the aforesaid Herrelko et al patent has arrows designating the air flow so that the air apparently flows through openings in the retainer and the bottom wall of the burner box, there is no identification of the openings. There also are no openings in the bottom heat shield so that the bottom heat shield apparently is employed only to prevent radiation of heat into the storage compartment.
Another suggested baffle arrangement for a gas range having a self-cleaning oven has two vertically spaced baffles with a first heat shield therebetween and a second heat shield, which is above the inner baffle of the two baffles and beneath a burner used to produce self-cleaning of the oven. Both of the baffles and both of the heat shields are formed of aluminized steel.
In this arrangement, a bottom baffle, which forms the top of a storage compartment, is spaced from portions of both side walls and a rear wall of the oven of the gas range extending downwardly beneath the bottom wall of the oven to provide spaces therebetween. This enables air to flow upwardly past the bottom baffle through the spaces between the edges of the bottom baffle and the downwardly extending portions of the side walls and the rear wall of the oven. Each of the downwardly extending portions of the side walls of the oven has louvered openings in a plane just beneath the bottom surface of the bottom baffle so that air flows beneath the bottom surface of the bottom baffle into the louvered openings and upwardly through passages, which communicate with the louvered openings, exterior of the side walls of the oven to exit through openings at the top of the range.
The first heat shield is disposed in spaced relation above the bottom baffle by a pair of domes extending downwardly from opposite sides of the first heat shield and into engagement with a pair of domes extending upwardly from the bottom baffle. A screw extends through each pair of the two engaging domes to secure the first heat shield, which is about half the width of the bottom baffle and substantially the same length, to the bottom baffle.
The inner baffle is positioned above the first heat shield in spaced relation thereto through having four hat brackets, which are welded to the inner baffle and extend downwardly therefrom, receive screws extending through the bottom baffle. This not only secures the bottom baffle to the inner baffle but also maintains them in spaced relation. Two additional screws secure the bottom baffle to a frame of the range.
The inner baffle has a plurality of openings in its central portion vertically aligned with openings in the second heat shield, which is above the inner baffle and beneath the gas burner, and with the gas burner to allow air to flow to the gas burner for combustion. The openings in the inner baffle also are in vertical alignment with the first heat shield so that there is no heat radiation to the bottom baffle.
The inner baffle and the second heat shield, which is formed of a plurality of separate parts in the shape of a box without a top and held together by about twenty-four screws, are attached to the frame. Fiberglass insulation surrounds the second heat shield including being disposed between the second heat shield and the inner baffle with only passages in the insulation to allow air flow to the gas burner through the openings in the inner baffle and the second heat shield. There are ten screws to attach the inner baffle and the second heat shield to the frame.
Accordingly, substantial heat transfer by conduction occurs through the areas of the first and second heat shields and the baffles held in engagement with each other by the screws. Furthermore, there is no cooling by convection of the first heat shield, and there is no air flow over the upper surface of the bottom panel to aid in cooling by convection. Additionally, forming the two baffles and the two heat shields of aluminized steel is a significant expense. There also is a significant expense in using insulation between the second heat shield and the inner baffle.